IDAHO - living in a faery tale!

So it was that I woke in Idaho looking down at the sunrise, feeling cold air and dew on my face and listening to our new friend Larry’s dog howling along with the wolves. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven, or at least Canada.  Here were trees, yellow, orange, and purple wildflowers, fat wild turkeys, and even rare Morel mushrooms, shaped like pinecones or brains, by far the most delicious mushrooms I ever tasted.

We resumed bicycling from Larry’s house in Kamiah and spent about a week and a half riding beside the “wild and scenic” Lochsa river, which fully lived up to its billing.  The river itself was all roaring rapids, water storming over huge rocks, clear waterfalls pure enough to drink from, and quiet forests.  Each night we’d pull off the road and find an old fire ring of rocks and a flat spot and fall deeply asleep.  We saw bald eagles perched in their huge nests, ospreys, bats, more creatures than I could identify.  I told Mark, “I feel like I’m inside of a nature special on tv!”

My legs and butt were still sore, and often my knees would lock into place overnight, like stretched rubber bands.  We dealt with the heat by having water fights using the ice cold waterfalls.  Even after being drenched head to toe, we’d be dry again in an hour and would have to do it all over again!

The most challenging part was the infamous Lolo pass; we met several bicyclists who’d just climbed it from the Montana side and were on their way down.  We were on our way up, and as they tried to warn us, it was extremely steep.  We climbed thousands of feet in just a few miles, so slowly that 15 miles took all day.  Near the top it hailed, and while we waited out the hail under some trees, we discovered a fresh flat on one of the bikes.  At the top, within sight of the “welcome to Montana” sign, we camped in the one bare spot in the snow–right at a construction site.  Early in the morning the jackhammers began growling, and when I emerged sleepily from the tent one of the workmen asked, grinning, “did we wake you?”

Hang in there, lots more Idaho soon!